"St. Louis is a city where you can find a surprising amount of Hispanic art in a lot of galleries around town," says artist Gabriela Toujàs, a painter who was born in Argentina, lived in Germany, and who now lives and works in the Gateway City.

A city of inspiring contrasts

St. Louis' contrasting tranquility and vigorous cultural life is a real draw for her. "The excellent art museums, galleries and art fairs are outstanding," says Gabriela, who works in oil on canvas, wood, silk and glass to craft vividly light-filled, colorful landscapes and images with a strong South American influence.

It's an inspiration shared by others with a Latin background. Fabio Rodriguez, an artist born to Dominican parents in Virginia but who grew up in the Dominican Republic, mixes influences from St. Louis as well as his Caribbean background.

"Since I've been living in Missouri for a long time it has definitely redefined my cultural identity. People frequently have difficulty trying to figure out where I'm from, and when they ask I often refer to myself as Dominissourian," he laughs. "I use references from both cultures in my work. One may find symbols from plantains, 'grillz' and antlers, to colloquial phrases in both languages."

Hispanic culture enriches all of St. Louis

It isn't only artists who benefit from a cultural stream as wide as the nearby Mississippi River. "Having Hispanic culture in St. Louis is marvelous," says Greg Gobberdiel, co-owner with Cathy C. J. Gobberdiel of Cathy Gregory Studio Gallery, showcasing artists in a preserved building in the historic Shaw neighborhood near the Missouri Botanical Garden. "It introduces new viewpoints and enriches our community's art offerings and dialogue about life."

A highpoint of that dialogue comes every September at the Greater St. Louis Hispanic Festival, an event held in Soulard Park at 7th and Lafayette Ave. that draws thousands of visitors. Featuring "folkloric dancers, Latino bands, chefs and the representational arts including paintings, pottery, photographs and drawings…the event attracts a very diverse group of fair goers, including Hispanic and non-Hispanic families," says organizer Elisa Bender. "The art platform that stands out in the Hispanic Community is painting and drawings. At the Hispanic Festival, we have various artists who come and paint on site."

Thriving art scene

Growing the Hispanic art scene is important to the larger art community, says Sherry Sissac, director of marketing with the St. Louis Regional Arts Commission, which funds the Hispanic Festival. "St. Louis has a rich and culturally diverse arts community," she says. "The Hispanic arts organizations and arts programming the RAC funds add to the vibrancy of the entire region."

Celebrations of culture

The Hispanic influence remains strong in the lively Cherokee Street neighborhood of early 20th century buildings reborn as coffee shops, galleries, bodegas and cafes. This is especially true around Cinco de Mayo, when the street comes alive with parades of dancers, bands rolling along in the back of large trucks playing for all they're worth, home-made parade floats and quirky costumes. Parties spill out of the brick storefronts, where the tables have been rolled away to make room for dancing. And everywhere are the smells of the tortillas, chicken, beef and sausage sizzling away in fry pans.

"One of my favorite places to explore in St. Louis is Cherokee Street," says Patricia Chavez, a Tower Grove neighborhood artist who probes connections and relationships with the past in her collage works and mixed media drawings. "It has the best restaurants, coffee shops, bakeries, stores and artist-run spaces in St. Louis."

But her influences span the city, too. "The architecture, rivers and beautiful urban neighborhoods and parks are a constant source of ideas and visual inspiration," she says. "All I have to do is walk around my neighborhood, take a walk through Tower Grove Park, spend a Saturday on Cherokee Street, or a Sunday morning at the Missouri Botanical Garden."

Bringing art to the community

The Luminary, a Cherokee Street gallery, worked to bring the art and larger communities together by curating several works in a recent exhibition called "Counterpublic," said the gallery's James McAnally.

"We felt like it was essential to create intersections between the Hispanic businesses, Hispanic artists, and the numerous other communities on (Cherokee) Street," he says. These included public art projects associated with Hispanic businesses in the area such as Mexican-American artist Alberto Aguilar's hand-painted English-Spanish cognate-based signs for El Torito Supermercado and works by the Chiapas, Mexico-based art collective EDELO at El Chico Bakery.

"Hispanic-owned businesses have helped shape the distinct culture of the neighborhood and have really been the anchors of the community," McAnally says. "As more artists have moved here over the past decade, those intersections are increasingly important."

Anchors of the community

As the artists connect with the community, they work to connect with each other, too. Fabio Rodriguez, the Virginia-born artist raised in the Dominican Republic, says it's a friendly group. "The Hispanic artists around here are approachable and super-humble," he says. "Whenever there is a Hispanic art exhibit in town it always feels like a family reunion. Now we have a whole new generation of artists coming in, so I can't wait to see where we go from here."

The same welcoming feeling goes for travelers looking for a reason to visit, and it extends beyond the Hispanic art community. "I would say come to explore the St. Louis art community, period," he emphasizes. "There are tons of places to see and exhibit art. I have hosted several artists from different cities…Lucia Gomez de Gerson flew in from Austin, Texas, to be part of the 'Moments of Silence' exhibition by the Coalition of Artists for Peace at UMSL and Harris Stowe University. We learned a great deal from one another and had a great time at the openings."

St. Louis offers artists and visitors alike a friendly, fascinating environment, says artist Gabriela Toujàs. "It has a great art scene I can be a part of, not as a Hispanic member but simply for my art," she says. "With the amicable people, wonderful four seasons we get to enjoy, as well as the amazing restaurants the community has to offer, I gladly call St. Louis my home."